CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PosterPresentation
TheEffectsofanAdrenalSteroidHormoneonSpatialLearninginPrenatallyStressedRats
MariahMaiman
FacultyMentor:MatthewBlankenship
Psychology
Prenatal stress effects have become widely studied in recent years. There is increasing evidence that
prenatalstressisassociatedwithhigherratesofcognitiveimpairments,emotionalproblems,attention
deficits,andneurocognitivedisorderslikeschizophrenia.Attemptstoreducetheattendantstressorsof
modern life are important from a public health standpoint, but more attention is being given to the
biologicalmechanismsofstressandpossibletherapeuticinterventions.Forexample,theadrenalsteroid
hormonedehydroepiandrosterone(DHEA)hasbeenstudiedforitsabilitytorestorecognitivefunctionin
elderly individuals but has also been found to be a precursor to other important hormones such as
androgens and estrogens, which reduce the HPA-axis stress response. This study would allow better
understanding of the risks posed by prenatal stress to learning and memory and how an important
endogenous adrenal steroid hormone might mitigate these effects. To test the successfulness of the
DHEA pre-treatment the offspring will be tested for memory capabilities. Once they age 6 weeks, the
pups will be exposed to situations that test their spatial memory within the Morris water maze. The
animalswillbeplacedintothemazetonavigatethroughandlocatethehiddenplatformwhilethepool
is filled to create a comparison between stressed and unstressed animals performance, animals that
were drug treated and that were not treated, and the day subjects were assigned to complete tasks
suchaslatencytotheplatform,percentoftimespentinthetargetquadrant,andpercenttimespentin
thigmotaxis.